SportBusiness Streaming Whitepaper Digital

In association with GENIUS SPORTS
RISE OF AUTOMATED PRODUCTION
The most important development in enabling all levels of sport to stream their content has been the emergence
of automated production systems. Being able to automatically track the live action, identify highlights, embed
statistics and insert adverts and sponsorship opportunities was far beyond even the most advanced streaming
solutions five years ago.
STREAMING: SMARTPHONES’ NEXT FRONTIER
On top of the onerous production and resource costs, to go over the top sports would historically have to cover
the significant hardware expenditure of cameras in multiple different venues.
But both in and out of sport, the intervening period has seen huge progress in the field of artificial intelligence
and computer vision. Whether by embedded chips in players’ shoes and the ball or advanced motion sensors to
track the flow of play, democratised tracking technology has changed the game in sports streaming.
Sports of all sizes now have tools at their disposal that can automatically track, pan and zoom with every
play while cutting between multiple cameras positioned around the pitch or court. These solutions weren’t
immediately perfect: differentiating between major crowd movements, stitching a high- quality picture together
with multiple angles and ensuring reliable, low latency streams have all been significant challenges in the
emergence of automated solutions.
Smartphones, however, have had a transformative effect on modern sport, making every league, federation, club
and fan an instant content producer. Fans rely on their mobile phone to capture live streams and photos at a
game and quickly consume everything from odds to scores, highlights, statistics, news and interviews when they
are on-the-go.
But by eliminating the need for
in- venue directors, cameramen
and other production staff,
automated production removes a
once insurmountable barrier to
entry. Powered by cloud-based
technology which simplifies how
sports manage and distribute their
content while processing billions of
data points, these solutions are
transforming the production of
live sports.
Because producing and distributing
content in the cloud is simpler and less
expensive, it lowers the barriers for
“smaller sports organisations.”
As Mehul Padaia, vice-president of global marketing at Tata Communications, told Raconteur last year: “The
cloud is levelling the playing field between sports giants like F1 and smaller local series like the F4 British
Championship. You only need a few cameras to capture the action; the rest of the production can be done easily
and inexpensively in the cloud.
This opens up a global market for local sports leagues … Also, because producing and distributing content in the
cloud is simpler and less expensive, it lowers the barriers for smaller sports organisations.”
Long-tail sports launching their first OTT platform shouldn’t immediately expect a TV-level of production. But
automated solutions have opened an unprecedented window of opportunity, enabling them to showcase their
gamesfor the first time while controlling when their events are played, how their video content is delivered
across multiple platforms and the tools they want to use to enhance every stream and highlight.
Streaming is the next frontier for smartphones’ increasing impact on modern sport. Across post-match
interviews by journalists, clubs filming behind-the-scenes content and coaches analysing performance, their
video content is already relied upon every day.
Smartphones are providing all sports with an affordable and accessible streaming solution that replaces
expensive hardware, driven by their increased camera quality, computing power and instant distribution
capabilities via the cloud.
Rights-holders entering the OTT market can be sceptical of the quality and reliability of mobile solutions to
deliver low-latency streams that capture the excitement of live sport.
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